Restrain, Release
by Julchen M. Liddell
Summary: Everyone acknowledges that the Hinamizawa Ward in the Shishibone Mental Hospital exists, but nobody talks about what goes on inside, or even who's in there. Perhaps there's a good reason.
1. Chapter 1

On June 21, 1983, in the village of Hinamizawa in the Shishibone Prefecture, volcanic gas from the nearby Onigafuchi Swamp erupted in the night and spread throughout the village, killing nearly the entire population. Of the entire two thousand residents, there were only eight survivors. Of those eight, only three walked away relatively unscathed and sanely sound. Mion Sonozaki, granddaughter of the head of one of the most powerful village families, was away with her grandmother Oryo Sonozaki on business at the time of the gas disaster. The other, Rika Furude, lived far enough away from the main village to be spared, though not without some issues. The other five survivors, while it is not certain how they managed to escape, suffered respiratory problems and detrimental blows to their sanity. After being treated in an unnamed hospital in Shishibone City along with Rika Furude, they were admitted to the newly-christened Hinamizawa Ward of the Shishibone Mental Hospital, where they will remain until they are seen fit enough rejoin society as functioning members.

* * *

_From the medical notes of Dr. J. Fujisaki._

_Date: 07/10/1983_

_The patients in the Hinamizawa Ward all exhibit similar symptoms, such as extreme paranoia, hallucinations, and, in certain cases, violent bloodlust/mindless need to harm others or themselves. Three out of five have attempted to claw out their throats with their fingernails, leading to use of restraints and filing down of their fingernails. All five are usually separated from each other, as they seem to become distressed and/or violent when faced with another patient. All patients are under constant surveillance and daily notes are taken to record progression or regression of symptoms. All patients are heard referring to one "Oyashiro-sama", perhaps in reference to a mass delusion._

* * *

_Patient Name: _Keiichi Maebara

_Age: _16, born April 12, 1967

Symptoms vary in intensity daily. Some days Maebara is perfectly stable, and others quite raving. Maebara regularly hears voices and footsteps, as well as the common paranoia present in the other four patients. Has been recorded swinging his arms as though wielding a baseball bat or other blunt-force instrument, and is often heard ranting about murders he is under the impression of committing, including being responsible for the deaths of fellow patients Reina Ryugu and Satoko Hojo, and Mion Sonozaki. Seems to also believe he is directly responsible for the Hinamizawa Gas Disaster, by willing it to happen. Frequently shouts out curses and has twice attempted to claw out his throat, needing to be restrained both times.

* * *

_Patient Name: _Reina "Rena" Ryugu

_Age: _15, born July 21, 1967

Like Maebara, symptoms vary daily. Subject to bouts of paranoia and increasingly grandiose delusions, such as alien invasions and brain parasites present in all Hinamizawa residents. Frequently hallucinates figures standing over her bed or in her room, and maggots underneath her skin, leading to attempts to dig them out. Like Maebara, she has attempted throat-clawing twice, leading to restraints. Switches between a cheerful, calm demeanor to psychotic laughter to cold indifference at the drop of a hat, and again, similar to Maebara, 'confesses' to murders she thinks she has committed. Teppei Hojo, Rina Mamiya, Satoshi Hojo, Mion Sonozaki, and Keiichi Maebara are among the list of her imagined victims.

* * *

_Patient Name_: Satoko Hojo

_Age:_ 11, born June 24, 1972

Hojo is subject to large gaps in her memory, but appears to be the most stable of all the patients. Only barely remembers the Hinamizawa Gas Disaster, though on bad days believes she caused the death of Keiichi Maebara. Though generally cheerful, Hojo sometimes imagines hearing her uncle, Teppei Hojo (deceased in the gas disaster), coming down the hall or behind her, and hallucinates her doctors as her uncle. Believes her brother ran away and will come back for her, refusing to believe his current condition. Displays a pathological fear of Shion Sonozaki and often refuses to eat, breaks down into tears, or being distressed by flashbacks or returning memories.

* * *

_Patient Name:_ Satoshi Hojo

_Age:_ 17, born January 14, 1966

Older brother of Satoko Hojo. Patient is kept in a medically-induced coma due to constant psychosis when awake. What behaviors have been recorded include hearing footsteps, hallucinating figures standing near him, self-harm, and belief he caused the death of his aunt, Tamae Hojo. Displayed constant anxiety and a need to hurt himself, physically attacking anyone who went near him.

* * *

_Patient Name_: Shion Sonozaki

_Age:_ 17, born February 11, 1966

Sonozaki is kept in full-time isolation due to psychotic ravings and frequent violent attacks on her supervisors and fellow patients in the past, though she rarely attempts to harm herself. Seems to have an unhealthy obsession with Satoshi Hojo and threatens physical harm to any doctor she knows attends to him. Like Maebara and Ryugu, believes herself responsible for a number of deaths, including Satoko Hojo, Rika Furude, Keiichi Maebara, Mion and Oryo Sonozaki, and various other residents of Hinamizawa Village. However, she is heard aggressively blaming the Sonozaki family for Satoshi Hojo's current condition. Often describes the techniques used to murder her imagined victims in great detail. Hears footsteps she believes belong to Satoshi Hojo or the aforementioned "Oyashiro-sama". Condition stabilizes in the presence of Mion Sonozaki.

* * *

_Frequent visitors to the ward include Rika Furude, either alone or with her guardian Mamoru Akasaka, and Mion Sonozaki. Neither Furude nor Sonozaki offer any knowledge or understanding of the patients' conditions or behaviors, denying knowing anything about what may be causing the conditions or behaviors of the patients. Sonozaki only stays for a short time, long enough to converse with Shion Sonozaki, her younger twin sister, and Reina Ryugu. Furude walks around to each room in turn, but does not speak with any of the patients._

* * *

**A/N:**

**This is what I call keeping myself busy over summer break. Anyway, as you might have realized from the subject matter here and the frankly obvious notation in the summary, this is an AU. In this 'verse of mine, Rika didn't grow up seeing Hanyuu, Keiichi did move to Hinamizawa but the main characters never became friends, and Takano's plan didn't revolve around Rika, so the 'gas disaster' happened without Rika being murdered. Ergo, she survived. If you have any questions regarding the AU then feel free to message me. Or hey, maybe it's not an AU at all. In season 2 of Higurashi Rika mentions that she and Hanyuu have lived through many different worlds, I guess it's not too much of a stretch to assume that this is a world that happened, where Hanyuu kept her distance from Rika, who didn't remember her, and things turned out like this. The implications of the many worlds is fun to play around with.**

**This story is going to be told by alternating through doctors' logs, phone calls, video and audio recordings, and normal third-person perspective. I've never written anything like this before so I'm excited to see how it will turn out in the end.**

**Author's notes will not be this long in future chapters, if I even include them at all. I just felt the need to clear everything up before we continue. Thank you for reading and please review.**


	2. Chapter 2

**RR is stands for Reina Ryugu. Doctors write in shorthand while taking notes quite often, I believe. The first part of this chapter is a news report from a sort of trashy tabloid, like the one Keiichi read during the first arc. The majority of the rest takes place in the asylum with medical notes and security footage, and the last bit is told in third-person narrative. **

**This chapter was unexpectedly hard to write, and I was on vacation, so I apologize for the later update. Thanks to those who favorited, followed, and reviewed.**

* * *

**HINAMIZAWA GAS DISASTER SURVIVORS ADMITTED TO MENTAL HOSPITAL**

**by Iori Moriyama**

On July 08, five of the eight survivors of the Hinamizawa Gas Disaster were admitted to Shishibone Mental Hospital in Shishibone City. The survivors (Keiichi Maebara, Reina Ryugu, Satoshi Hojo, Satoko Hojo, and Shion Sonozaki) were moved from from the medical hospital where they were being treated for respiratory problems to the mental institution late at night on the eighth of this month. Requests for presence by the press and interviews with the patients were denied to allow the patients time to settle in and get their bearings.

Shishibone Mental Hospital doctor Jun Fujisaki says: "These children are of unstable mental health, which really isn't surprising considering what they've been through just a few short weeks ago. For the sake of their privacy, we're keeping the details of their conditions from the public, but they are eventually expected to make a full recovery. We don't know how long it will be until that happens, but the dedicated doctors and nurses here have commited themselves to see that it does happen."

Fujisaki is the head doctor in the newly-christened Hinamizawa Ward, a branch of the building set aside specifically for the five new patients. He has been working in the institution for thirty-two years and is widely respected in the medical community among mental health doctors.

"Some patients we're more concerned about than others," he said when we went to interview him. "But, like I said, we're going to make sure all five patients make a full recovery."

When asked if any of the patients were violent, as there were reports from Shishibone Hospital about Sonozaki and Maebara in particular going into hysterics, Fujisaki just offered a grim smile and excused himself to return to work.

The doctors who work in the Hinamizawa Ward refused to answer any questions on the victims' pasts due to hospital regulations and patient confidentiality, and for the most part were very brief and to the point in their answers. However, reporters were sent to both Ibaraki, where Reina Ryugu spent her elementary and middle school years, to see if they could find anything out about at least one of the patients.

Besides Shion Sonozaki, who was a member of the well-known and powerful Sonozaki family and twin sister and granddaughter of two other survivors, Mion Sonozaki and Oryo Sonozaki respectively, most of the other patients are virtually unknown. It would seem as though they were all ordinary, nondescript children living out their lives in Hinamizawa Village. However, Reina Ryugu is certainly remembered in Ibaraki.

"She was a total nutcase," one former classmate at the local high school, Suyuki Iwasawa, informed when interviewed. "She moved away last year, you know, and with good reason. They wouldn't let her stay after she attacked her 'friends' like that."

When asked about that incident, Iwasawa said, "Nobody knows why Ryugu did it. She didn't say why, not ever. She just lost it one day and brought a bat to school and started swinging it around. Broke all the windows and even took out a boy's eye. She didn't come to school again, for good reason. I'm glad she moved away. Everyone was."

So at least one other patient and survivor in the Shishibone Mental Hospital has a record of mental instability and violence. There is speculation that it is entirely possible that other patients have a similar, hidden history. What kind of people are currently incarcerated in the Hinamizawa Ward? Are the other patients and the doctors there safe from harm? Our reporters are working to get the whole story soon.

* * *

_From the Medical Notes of Dr. J. Fujisaki._

_Date: 07/14/1983_

_Patient Name: Reina Ryugu_

_Ryugu's examination began at 09:05 in the morning. Her heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing patterns all checked out normal (recorded in the patient health log). The following questions were asked to moniter her sanity and and any possible progress/stability attained overnight. Ryugu, for the most part, was coherent, understandable, and did not become hysterical. _

**Q: Did you sleep well, Ryugu-san? Did you have dreams or distressing thoughts?**

**RR: **(long hesitation) What kind of question is that? I slept. I had the same dreams I always do.

**Q: What sort of dreams? Can you describe them?**

**RR: **I've already described them, a few times. (...) They were the usual ones. I wake up and the same figure is standing by my bed, looking down at me. I can't see the face, but sometimes they back away and walk around. I hear the footsteps. Some other nights, it's memories. I dream that I'm killing someone.

**Q: Who, exactly?**

**RR: **(sigh) How often do we have to go over this? It's not just one person, but most often it's a woman. Rina Mamiya, I think. I've seen her before, around Okinomiya and sometimes in Hinamizawa. Another person is...Satoko-chan's uncle. I don't know his name, but I hate him.

**Q: You also say you've murdered your friends Keiichi Maebara, Satoshi Hojo, and Mion Sonozaki.**

**RR: **I feel like I have, some days. It's a blur. I don't know how I killed them, in my dreams, or why. I just know I have. I see their bodies. Today I know they're just dreams, that besides Mion-chan, they're in their own rooms here. But tomorrow I might feel that I really did it. ...They weren't my friends, by the way.

**Q: Weren't they?**

**RR: **No. I mean, Mion-chan was, I think, because I'm-I was-the only girl her age in our class. But Satoshi-kun mostly kept to himself and I didn't know Keiichi-kun at all. He was really quiet and didn't like talking to people. He'd just moved to Hinamizawa, so nobody really knew him. Satoshi-kun mostly just seemed nervous a lot, but he was a bit friendlier. But no, I wasn't all that close to either of them.

**Q: What about Satoko Hojo and Rika Furude?**

**RR: **Satoko-chan was like Satoshi-kun, friendly enough but sort of nervous. I guess it makes sense because they're siblings and things weren't okay at their home. She and Rika-chan were really good friends, and they got on with Mion-chan well too. I liked them, but we weren't close. They played with the younger kids their age most of the time.

**Q: Let's change the subject. You've heard the footsteps from the figure in your waking hours as well. How often?**

**RR: **All the time. Every night, every day. I only see Oyashiro-sama at night, though. I can only hear him during the day. He's even here now. I can hear him stomping.

**Q: Can you tell me about Oyashiro-sama?**

**RR: **He'll get angry if I do. I don't want to make him angry. Bad things happen when Oyashiro-sama gets upset, and it's even worse now that we've left Hinamizawa...

_At this point, Ryugu began scratching absently at her wrists. However, she didn't seem to notice any discomfort and didn't point any out. She remained lying flat on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Despite that, her voice took on a higher-pitched, slightly hysterical tone._

**Q: Who is Oyashiro-sama? Why would he get upset if you left? After all, it wasn't like you could have stayed in Hinamizawa after what happened.**

**RR: **Oyashiro-sama caused that to happen. He was upset because too many changes were being made to the village. People were poking around where they shouldn't have been, and people were leaving. He hates it when people leave.

_She began scratching harder here, moving away from me when I reached to stop her. For a short time, she ceased her actions and I deemed it safe to continue questioning._

**Q: Who is Oyashiro-sama, though?**

**RR: **I can't tell you! Stop asking, he'll curse you! Now that the village is gone, he doesn't want anyone prying around about it! Do you want to die?

**Q: I'm not going to die, Ryugu-san. Why would you say that?**

**RR: **I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say anything, Oyashiro-sama. Please forgive me. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

_I deemed it necessary to end the session then, as she refused to answer any more questions. She was still repeating her apologies when I left the room and half an hour later she still had not stopped. Her scratching of her wrists escalated to digging at them and when her hands moved to her throat, I called in nurses to sedate her._

* * *

Room 13, Hinamizawa Ward, Shishibone Mental Hospital

Camera 06

Date: 07/14/1983

Time: 12:48

A girl with long green hair sits alone in a cramped room. The room itself is plain, just a bed, a toilet and sink, and a small bureau. Everything is white. The walls, the blankets, bureau, the girl's clothes. Straps, not currently in use, are attached to the metal rails on the bed.

The girl just sits. She does not fidget, or even move at all. Her back is to the camera.

A series of unlocking sounds are heard and the door opens. A person enters, a man in a white lab coat carrying a tray of bland-looking food. He sets it down on the bureau and asks the girl an unheard question. She does not respond, and he sighs and turns to leave.

_Where is Satoshi-kun?_

The question is nearly silent, only barely picked up by the camera.

_Just down the hall, _the man replies, seemingly more surprised that she spoke at all than he is at the question being asked.

_I want to see him._

_I'm sorry, Shion-san, you can't._

_Why?_

_He's in rehabilitation. He isn't conscious._

_I want to see him. Where is he?_

_Just down the hall. As soon as he's awake, you can see him._

_I want to see him now._

The man shakes his head and begins to back towards the door, keeping a wary eye on Shion. Her hands clench into fists, relax, then clench again.

_I'll see you tomorrow, Shion-san. Try to eat and sleep, alright?_

She does not reply. She only repeats _I want to see him, I want to see him, I want to see him..._

It is repeated endlessly. The recording goes on for six more minutes. At the end, Shion turns to the camera and gives it a wide, chilling grin.

* * *

Mamoru Akasaka had no idea when his life had turned into what it was. He'd gone from a married man with a pregnant wife working on the Toyko Police force to widower caring for two children, his daughter Miyuki and foster child Rika Furude. At least he was still a police officer, albeit living in Shishibone City now rather than the capitol. Rika had wanted to stay close to the remaining members of Hinamizawa, which Mamoru could understand. Moving hadn't been too much of a hassle, he was able to get a job, and living in Shishibone was even cheaper than in Tokyo. And with Yukie gone, there weren't any ties left holding him in Tokyo anyway.

Miyuki had been wary of Rika at first. Mamoru had been as well, really. The young girl was sullen and serious and spoke far too maturely for someone at the tender age of nine. It reminded him too much of when they had first met, and she had forseen the string of deaths that would approach in coming years in that same deep voice. Whatever had been temporarily possessing her then seemed to occupy her body-full time now; Rika hardly spoke to anyone and spent her time going back and forth from the mental hospital to her bedroom and back again. The thought saddened him, as Miyuki had finally warmed up to the older girl and Mamoru really just wanted her to be happy with them.

_ I'm pretty sure Rika's at the hospital now_, he thought to himself, standing in the kitchen making dinner for all of them. He glanced out the window. It was getting dark, she needed to be coming back soon if that were the case. Visiting hours had to be over by now.

Almost on cue, he heard the front door open and the soft padding of feet down the hall towards where he stood. Mamoru turned his head and indeed, there she was. Rika's long blue bangs hung in her eyes and she looked just as defeated as she did the day she came to live with the Akasakas.

"Are you alright?" Mamoru asked her, knowing that with that look, it had to have been a rough day at the hospital. He couldn't imagine what it would feel like to be a child her age and have her entire home wiped out in a single night and the survivors driven out their minds. The tabloids could dramatize and glorify the matter all they wanted; those people in the asylum were people Rika knew. Mamoru hated how the public treated the whole thing.

Rika nodded once in reply but didn't say anything, instead turning on her heel and continuing down the hall to her room. Miyuki could be heard cheerfully greeting her, but she responded with the same stony silence she had given Mamoru.

The man sighed. Nobody knew what really happened in Hinamizawa that night in June, but whatever it was was far more horrible than anyone could imagine. What else could turn a previously cheerful little girl into such a hollow shell of herself?

Mamoru wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer.


End file.
